Jeremiah 5
1 “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.
請你們巡行耶路撒冷的街道，觀察注意，在她的廣場上搜尋：若他們能找到一人，一個履正義，追求信實的人，我就寬恕這城。
2 Though they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
雖然他們起誓說：「上主永在! 」其實他們起的誓仍是虛誓。
3 O LORD, do not your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
上主，你的眼睛難道不顧信實﹖你打擊了他們，他們卻毫不覺痛；你使他們挫敗，他們仍拒絕受教，使自己的面孔比火石還要頑硬，不願悔改。
4 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the LORD’s way, nor the law of their God.
我想：「不錯，他們原是無知的平民，不認識上主的道路和衪他們天主的法律。
5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
我要去問有權勢的人，與他們談論，因為他們知道火道路和他們天主的法律。」哎! 連他們也都折斷了軛，掙斷了繩索。
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.
為此，獅子由叢林出來襲擊他們，曠野的豺狼出來傷害他們，豹子潛伏在他們的城旁，凡出來的人都被撕裂，因為他們罪上加罪，失節有增無已。
7 “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses.
如此，我怎能寬恕你﹖你的子孫離棄了我，奉「非神」發誓。我使他們飽食，他們卻去行淫，群集在妓院裏；
8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
他們像荒淫雄壯的牡馬，各向自己近人的妻室嘶鳴。
9 Should not I punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Should not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
這些事，我怎能不懲罰﹖──上主的斷語──像這些火民族，我怎能不親自報復﹖
10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy, but do not make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not the LORD’s.
請你們登上她的牆上頭，加以毀壞，但不要完全毀滅，該除去她的枝條，因為它們不屬於上主。
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says the LORD.
以色列和猶大家，實在對我不忠，達到極點──
12 They have denied the LORD, and said, “It is not he. Evil will not come on us. We will not see sword or famine.
上主的斷語。他們否認上主說：「衪不存在! 災禍不會臨到我們身上，我們也決不會見到戰爭和飢荒；
13 The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.”
先知們不過是一陣風，他們並沒有上主的話；他們這樣只有自作自受。」
14 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies says, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.
為此，上主萬軍火天主這樣說：「因為他們說了這話，我必使我的話在你的口中成為火，使這人民成為木柴，將他們吞滅。
15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and do not understand what they say.
以色列家! 看，我從遠方給你們引來一個民族──上主的斷語──一個所向無敵的民族，一個支老的民族，一個你們不慬她的語言，也聽不出她說什麼的民族
16 Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
他們的箭有如張口墳墓；他們都是善戰的勇士。
17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.
這民族必吃掉你的收穫和食糧，必吃掉你的兒子和女兒，必吃掉你的羊群和牛群，必吃掉你的葡萄和無花果，必以武力蹂躝你依恃的堅城。
18 “But even in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.
即在那些時日裏──上主的斷語──我也不對你們加以徹底的毀滅。」
19 It will happen when you say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
假使有人問：「為什麼上主我們的天主對我們做了這一切的事﹖」你當對他們說：「你們怎樣離棄了我，在你們國內事奉了外邦的神祗，你們也該怎樣在不屬於你們的境內事奉外邦人。」
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
你們你們將這事通知雅各伯家，轉告猶大說：
21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and do not see, who have ears, and do not hear:
「你們愚昧無知，有目不見，有耳不聞的人民，請聽聽這話：
22 Do not you fear me?’ says the LORD; ‘Will not you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail. Though they roar, they still cannot pass over it.’
你們不敬畏我嗎﹖──上主的斷語──你們在我面前不戰憟嗎﹖是我堆集了沙石作海的界限，作為它永不能越過的界限浪雖然洶湧，仍無能為力；雖怒號澎湃，仍不能越過。」
23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
但這內心頑固的心民，竟背叛而離去，
24 They do not say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
從不反心自省：「我們應該敬畏上主，我們的天主，因為衪按時降下雨露、秋霜和春雨；又給我們保持固定的收穫時節。」
25 “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
是你們的過犯混亂了這些時令，是罪惡阻止了你們享這幸福。
26 For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.
因為在我的人民中發現惡人；他們像隱伏的捕鳥者在窺探，布下羅網捕捉人。
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.
猶如籠中滿了飛鳥，他們家中也充滿了欺詐，因此成了有勢力，有錢財的人。
28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
他們肥胖紅潤，作奸犯科，不為孤兒辯護；只求自己享受，也不關懷窮人的權利。
29 “Should not I punish for these things?” says the LORD. “Should not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
像這樣的事，我怎能不懲罰﹖──上主的斷語──像這樣的民族，我怎能不親自報復﹖
30 “An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
在國內發生了一件恐怖而可憎的事：
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
先知們說假預言，司祭們爭權奪利，我的人民反以此為樂；到了最後，你們究竟還要作什麼﹖
